Clinical Outcomes of diode laser therapy in Patients with dental caries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22811607Keywords:
diode laser, dental caries, laser dentistry, pulpotomy, minimally invasive dentistryAbstract
Background: Diode lasers, originally developed for soft-tissue surgery, have accumulated a wide evidence base across cariology, spanning caries detection, cavity disinfection, restorative pretreatment, pulp therapy, and management of postoperative dentin hypersensitivity.
Objective: To synthesize the clinical and closely supporting mechanistic literature on diode laser therapy in patients with dental caries and characterize where genuine clinical benefit is best established.
Methods: Narrative synthesis of randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, and supporting in vitro and diagnostic-accuracy studies identified through PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Google Scholar, organized by stage of the caries-management pathway.
Findings: Diode laser fluorescence adds useful adjunctive diagnostic value for cavitated lesions; diode irradiation produces large but generally sub-chlorhexidine bacterial reductions on the cavity floor; diode pretreatment improves dentin sealing and reduces microleakage before adhesive restorations; diode laser pulpotomy achieves clinical and radiographic success comparable to formocresol and other conventional medicaments across two independent meta-analyses; and low-level diode photobiomodulation reduces dentin hypersensitivity and injection-related pain as effectively as established chemical desensitizers.
Conclusions: Diode laser therapy performs reliably as an adjunct across the caries-treatment pathway and outperforms conventional care specifically in patient-reported comfort, but has not yet demonstrated superiority over established methods on hard restorative or pulpal endpoints, positioning it as a versatile complement within minimally invasive caries management rather than a default replacement.
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